The Jock Next Door

Harmless creatures of earth

~ Chapter 20 ~

*Major editing done

***Lunch

" That doesn't make any sense—" Leo protests.

" It does." Asher glares at Leo. Both, are currently arguing about why cats and dogs are scary or not. It's a stupid subject that they keep arguing, back and forth about. Apparently, Asher got exposed by Leo that he's never held a cat, because they're annoying. He's also trying to convince Leo, that dogs are not scary.

I stare at the debate they're making in front of me, and so does Taylor. While, Melissa and Justin talk about DJ's and music, which all of a sudden Melissa seems interested in.

I bite into my oatmeal cookie that Taylor got me. He told me, they are supposed to be super nutritious, but that's probably why they taste bitter.

Abigail isn't with us—once again—making me suspicious of where she is, except she's nowhere to be found, from the beggining of the school day. It's a Friday and she's never absent, always being cautious about her grades and class work.

I fidget with my white adidas T-shirt, that I decided to wear today with jeans shorts—that I made sure weren't that short—and black adidas sneakers, nothing new.

While, today not all the boys are wearing their letterman jackets, because there is no soccer practice today. Asher is wearing the black supreme hoodie from yesterday, black jeans, his usual backwards SnapBack, converse shoes, and black ray bans, that he's currently wearing to cover up the healing bruise under his eye. Sometimes, I worry he wears too much black and he's always wearing a hoodie. I don't know how he never gets hot.

Leo and Taylor wearing Spain jerseys under their letterman jackets, once again matching. And Justin is wearing a collar shirt and dark jeans, including his beanie.

Melissa joins us at the tabe, wearing her usual style; a black and white striped romper with her red hair down, as always.

" They're harmless creatures of earth!!!" Asher continues, still trying to convince Leo that dogs aren't scary.

" So are cats!!!" Leo shoots back, with an irritated look.

Taylor shakes his head, annoyed from the two. " Both of you, are annoying creatures of earth." He mumbles, while he eats his sandwich, but they're too busy to hear him.

" You're scared of cats?" I ask Asher. He shoots his head in my direction.

" No." he says quickly. "They're just—I don't like them, okay?" He shrugs, like it's no big deal, but he obviously is. So, I just shrug back, not wanting to push the topic about fears.

I take out my phone and start scrolling through Instagram—not that I care about it that much, but for the mean time it'll do. Suddenly, I stop at a picture posted 18 hours ago by Charlotte Jones. That demon.

The picture has gotten me confused and mad. It's shows Charlotte in the middle, taking a selfie with Abigail and her other devils, from the cheerleaders. It's labeled
squad 💙.

Eighteen hours ago is basically last night, when we were all in Asher's house. It was also, when she said, she couldn't come over because she had an extra shift at work. But, it turns out that the extra shift, was just ditching her friends and hanging out with that demon, who is also her cousin. Charlotte is probably just using her.

Lately, Melissa and I have been wondering, why Abigail hasn't been hanging out with us that often. But, it looks like the mystery is solved. Before I can show Melissa the picture, I hear Taylor gasp and curse in surprise.